Eurasia Nonproliferation Program

Since 1991, the Eurasia Nonproliferation Program has worked to establish a community of nonproliferation specialists across the former Soviet Union. Today, it works in education, training and outreach.

Research

  • Russian and US views & approaches to WMD proliferation threats
  • Russian nuclear posture & nuclear doctrine developments
  • Russian position on strategic & tactical nuclear weapons reduction & transparency
  • Views of the threat of nuclear and radiological terrorism in the former Soviet states
  • Soviet-origin Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) repatriation and elimination of civilian use
  • Illicit nuclear and radioactive materials trafficking
  • Central Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone
  • Export controls in the former Soviet states
  • Civilian nuclear energy & nonproliferation
  • Participation & implementation of international treaties and initiatives
  • Assess the Cooperative Threat Reduction & international nonproliferation assistance
  • G-8 Global Partnership
  • Dismantlement of nuclear submarines

Training

1. Graduate Research Assistants

GRAs are drawn from the MIIS‘s student body and work for the program to form an integral part of their training in nonproliferation.

2. Visiting Fellows Program

  • 2-3 months of extensive training in nonproliferation issues
  • Tutorials, seminars, and independent research in historical, political, and technical issues, which are essential to working effectively in the nonproliferation field
  • Each fellow is paired with a senior staff member, who serves as a mentor, for an individual research project on a topic of the fellow’s choice
  • Fellows deliver final briefings on their research findings at the end of the term for assembled staff.
  • A modest book/periodicals stipend, provided by the program, allows fellows to build a nonproliferation library to bring back to their home countries and institutions.

Since its inception in 1991, the program has trained over 140 participants from countries in the former Soviet Union, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Moldova, Russia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Program alumni are now in leading positions of the many former Soviet states:

  • Foreign ministries
  • Export control agencies
  • Scientific research institutes
  • Media organizations
  • Universities

3. Vestnik Newsletter

Vestnik is a quarterly newsletter of the research, conferences and activities of the former Soviet states, with opportunities for joint research.

4. Assistance to Russian Universities and Technical Colleges

The goals of the program included the development, implementation, and teaching of nonproliferation courses. During 2003-2006, nonproliferation courses were introduced at the following institutions:

  • Ozersk Technological Institute (branch) of Moscow Engineering Physics Institute
  • Novouralsk State Technical Institute
  • Tomsk Polytechnic University
  • Sarov Physics and Technical Institute
  • Seversk State Technical Academy
  • Snezhinsk State Physics and Technical Academy
  • Battelle and the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI), assisting with the MPC&A graduate program